Friendship Laced Sorrows
by Ms. AtomicBomb
Summary: Arthur sends texts to his friend, and hopes that he will soon get a response. Short story. Deals with very depressing themes, read at your own risk.
1. Part 1

**~Author's Note~**

 **Hello everyone! Well, this is going to be a very different story! Our main Character is Arthur Pendragon (yes, the one from Fate/ Prototype) I really hope you all like this story and anything that is _Italicized_ is a text that Arthur has sent to Diarmuid. They're BFFs in this story and yeah! I hope it goes well and this is probably only going to be a three part story!**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Ms. AtomicBomb**

* * *

The loud alarm clock awoke him to a warm summer morning. He threw his hand towards the clock to shut it up, but it took him a couple of tries to finally hit the snooze button. He sat up slowly and groggily once the alarm had fallen silent. He reached for his phone to check if had any new messages but upon seeing no notifications, he yawned and instead sent a text to his best friend.

 _"Hey, wake up. School's about to start."_

Arthur yawned and hurried off to the bathroom, where he quickly discarded his clothes and entered the shower. He slipped into his uniform after drying himself and then hurried down the stairs to be able to shove something in his mouth before he would have to run to school.

"You're finally up! Hurry, we're about to miss the bus!" His half-sister was already by the door, swinging her bag over her shoulder rather quickly.

Arthur stopped by the door as he blinked at his older sister. She was only three months older but to her it meant she was wiser, "I'm not getting on the bus. I'm biking," he grumbled as he stepped into the kitchen.

"What?! No, you're not getting there on time!" She called as she pushed her shoes on.

"Have you forgotten? I don't like cars." He peaked his head out from the kitchen and raised his eyebrows at her.

Her face had twisted into a glare but upon seeing his face, it softened and she became rather quiet, "Uh... Right," she mumbled a little embarrassed and then opened the door, "Goodbye, see you at school! Be careful, okay?"

Arthur watched his sister leave the house and then ducked back into the kitchen. He walked over to one of the coverts and took a cereal box in hand, then turned back to the refrigerator, where he glanced at a picture that was held in place by a magnet. He avoided the eyes of the two smiling teenagers as he grabbed the milk and poured it into the bowl before shoving it back in the messy fridge.

 _"Are you coming today? I hope so."_

He fired yet another text to his friend and then continued on to finishing his cereal.

He had made it to school rather early for biking all the way there. In fact, he only had three minutes to reach his class before the bell rang, but he took his time as he locked his bike and walked to the classroom.

It was the first day back to school, and Arthur was already late. After the summer break, he really did not care so much. To be quite honest, he did not care the slightest bit about many things, and school was surely one of them.

The bell rang as he entered his class and he proceeded to sit down next to the wall. He liked the windows but he was not in the mood to wander his gaze outside.

"Can you believe that Jean moved away? Wow, I thought he would be here forever." Arthur could hear what all the gossip was about when the white haired girl sat next to him and gave him a smile.

Arthur turned his head towards her and shook his head, "I doubt he moved, Iri," he mumbled.

"Hey, I don't lie, Artie. I'm telling you the truth. I'm a little concerned you didn't know..." She drifted as she bit her lower lip.

"Maybe you got it all wrong," Arthur defended and turned back to his notes as the teacher clapped her hands to begin the class.

 _"Found out Jean moved away... Guess he couldn't take this stupid little town anymore. He did not even tell me, can you believe that?"_

For the entirety of the day, Arthur kept an eye on his phone and laid his head down on the desk. He was not interested in classes anymore and his only friends had not attended school. His eyes were kept on the smart phone before him and he was patiently awaiting a response.

 _"I skipped lunch, let's go eat sushi after school."_

He sent the text as he sat alone in the classroom. He was not in the mood of eating lunch without any friends. Sure Iri was his friend, but he simply felt that he did not want to eat lunch with her.

 _"Are you really skipping class today? Alright then, I'll see you after school at the sushi place we always go to."_

As soon as the class was dismissed, he was out the door. He raced down the stairs and hurried to the Bicycle Rack. Upon freeing his bike, he quickly mounted it and hurried off to his favourite sushi place, where Diarmuid, Jean and him would always go to every Friday. Even though it was not Friday, he was dying to see his best friend.

He entered the small shop and sat down at the usual booth and ordered a starter that they had all loved. He sat patiently waiting for Diarmuid.

The time on the wall clock ticked by and the day grew older. The waitress had asked Arthur the same question four times already, "Are you finished, sir?"

And he would keep replying, "I'm just waiting for someone."

Three hours of waiting had been enough for him. By six in the afternoon, he ate the appetizer and left the money on the table. He stood from the booth and exited the store.

 _"You couldn't make it? Yeah, I thought you might have been busy."_

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and then made his way back home.

It had taken him quite a while to be able to reach his house, but upon doing so, he raced up the stairs and locked himself in his room.

He threw his bag onto his bed and shrugged off his uniform blazer. Arthur stretched a bit before turning to the television in his room and sighing. "I should do my homework," he grumbled and then rubbed his face, "whatever." He shrugged it off and then turned on the small television and the Nintendo game consul beside it.

 _"I don't want to do my homework, send me your notes so I can finish my game earlier."_

He did not fail to send yet another text to his best friend before pressing start on the controller. He had begun to play a little bit before he groaned again and reached for his phone that had been thrown on the bed a little earlier. He stretched his body over his stack of chocolate bars and finally wrote another message.

 _"Oh right, forgot you skipped today. I would ask Jean, but he's not here."_

He checked for any reply and sighed loudly upon seeing the one-way conversation. He threw his phone back on the bed and opened up a chocolate bar, turning up the volume on the television and starting his game up again.

It was a loud knock on his door that snapped him out of his game. He pressed a button and turned to the door, "Yeah?" He called over the soundtrack of the game.

"Hey! Come help me with dinner!" He heard the familiar voice of his half-sister.

Arthur groaned and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, just wait! I'm almost done the game!"

"I'll give you ten minutes."

Arthur turned back to the game and continued. Frantically clicking the buttons of the remote and growling every now again when he fell or died. It took him more than ten minutes and he was able to completely finish the game after an hour. He had not started the game then, he had started it during the summer break, but with everything that had happened, and he had never had time to finish it.

 _"I finished Twilight Princess without you, you better catch up to me and we'll see who got the most points. Loser has to do what the winner says for a week."_

He glanced at his phone as he descended the stairs and smiled innocently at his sister who was tapping her foot as her arms were crossed over her chest, "Morgie," he smiled a little brighter.

"Welp, I already finished dinner... By myself," she hissed, "so just sit and eat." He could clearly see that she was angry with him, but he kissed her cheek with an innocent look.

"Thanks, Morgie, you're the best."

After dinner, Morgana had forced him to watch an episode of her favourite show with her, and an episode turned into three and then five. It was around two in the morning when they had finished watching about eight episodes. He was not going to lie, the show was great, but it had cut down on his sleeping time, and he never liked that.

He practically dragged himself to the bed and fell on it with an 'oof', he kicked his bag from it and placed his phone back on the nightstand. For some reason, he could not close his eyes and only the images of that particular night haunted him. He turned about on the bed and tried to find a comfortable position that would allow him to fall comfortably asleep, but there seemed to be no satisfaction.

He reached for his phone and blinked as he saw the time. It was a little over four in the morning and he gave an exasperated yawn.

 _"Ugh, you awake? I can't sleep..."_

After sending the message, he set the phone back on the table and looked up at the ceiling, trying to connect the dots with the splatters of paint.

The rest of the first week of school was very uneventful and the only thing that Arthur did throughout it was write some simple texts to Diarmuid. He had strolled through the dollar store to collect some pencils and paper that he was lacking and did not fail to check his phone.

 _"Another day another dollar...wasted. Had to get some school supplies :/"_

There had been nothing exciting that he thought was important to share with his friend, especially since he was not involved in any after school extracurricular activities or anything else in that matter.

He made his way back to school since he had gone to buy everything during lunch time. Arthur entered the classroom again and sat back down on his seat whilst placing the school supplies on his desk. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms as he waited until the bell rang.

 _"Man, when are you coming to school? It's so boring without you! :/"_

Arthur yawned as he rested his head on the desk and bounced his knee. He felt a little upset that his friend had been skipping school for two weeks now and he wasn't sure how to get him to start coming to school again.

 _"You better be here tomorrow or I'll beat you up!"_

He made sure to hide the phone from the teacher's view while waiting for some sort of reply. Of course he knew that it was going to be hard to get a reply again, but he kept on hoping; hoping that his friend would give in and at least send a small text.

The days went by and there was nothing that the male received. There were no texts and there was not much to do. He looked about the classroom as he tapped a pencil on his desk. He felt very lonely nowadays since both of his friends were gone, and there were times when he would feel something in his chest twisting and turning in every move he made when there was no one around.

Days like these were never really good, the rain would fall and slide down the windows. The dark grey clouds were too much for him on those gloomy rainy days. The feeling of wanting to be curled up in your bed, warm and safe.

He closed his eyes shut and sighed as the teacher began to separate the class into pairs in order for the project to be performed. He did not like group projects that much, and the fact that his friends weren't there to be paired up with him, it made it even worse. He knew that the teacher would not let Iri be his partner because she wanted 'the class to get to know one another.' And that meant that he would not be paired up with the people he talked to.

Although he had already expected to be paired up with someone he disliked, he never knew that it would be the one person that he hated the most in the class; Gilgamesh.

Arthur rolled his eyes at the mention of the name and was about to make a complaint with the teacher until she had stopped him. Telling him that she was not going to change it because it would be unfair to the rest of the class or something around those lines.

Arthur groaned as the blond male sat next to him and dropped his books on the table, "Welp, what do we have to do?" Gilgamesh turned to him and sighed.

"It's about the Cold War..." He mumbled before closing his eyes and settling his head on the table.

"Are you just going to sleep? Don't expect me to do the project alone."

He sighed upon hearing to snobby young man and then waved his hand, "Yeah, whatever."

 _"I got into trouble because you weren't here again. I was paired up with Gilgamesh and he said something about you so I punched him."_

He had been trying to take a nap past the snickers of the other male beside him when he had said something that shot a pulse of rage through Arthur's veins.

"What?" His voice clearly held true hatred and disgust for the male before him, "What did you just say?"

"Whatever." Gilgamesh rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

Arthur stood from his seat in a flash and brought Gilgamesh up with him by the collar of his uniform, "Tell me again what you said."

"Get your dirty paws off me. Now." Gilgamesh let his surprised expression settle into a glare. "Hands off."

The clatter that Gilgamesh's chair had created was enough to have the entire class looking their way. The teacher was not there to stop the fighting males and it was only Iri that grabbed Arthur's arm to calm him down.

"Iri, this is not your problem."

Irisviel tightened her grip on her friend and looked at him, "it is."

Arthur shook her hand off and dragged Gilgamesh all the way to the wall at the back of the class, "Repeat what you just said."

Gilgamesh took a hold of Arthur's hand with one of his own, "Let go, mongrel," he growled.

Nothing stopped Arthur from balling his right hand into a fist and throwing the hardest punch he could have ever managed.

A choir of gasps resonated through the room as Gilgamesh's head bounced off the wall.

Gilgamesh managed a grunt and then the real fight began. The snobby rich kid projected a hard punch to Arthur's face and he stumbled back—letting go of Gilgamesh.

They launched at each other, throwing punches and kicks everywhere. The audience did not fail to join in with the noise of cheers and gasps.

It was Gilgamesh that had tripped Arthur and they both went tumbling down with a punch or two. The red-eyed male had the advantage and was even throwing many blows to Arthur's face while he was hovering over him.

But Arthur got the upper hand, and rolled over so that he was on top of Gilgamesh and landing the hard punches. Gilgamesh tried to push him away or cover his face with his arms; but they too got bruised and lacerated.

Arthur was being pulled away by two other students and he wiggled to get free and hope to attack the other male before him, "Don't touch me!" He screamed.

"Arthur Pendragon! Are you planning to kill your classmate?" He saw the teacher run to Gilgamesh and help him up slowly.

Arthur gritted his teeth and almost blurted out a 'yes'. He was insane wasn't he?

"What happened?" The teacher looked over at Gil, checking his injuries and sending a glare to Arthur.

"I told him we had to share the work and then he attacked me, miss..." The red-eyed teenager gave a pained look.

"That's not what happened! Gilgamesh, tell her what you actually said!" Arthur growled, "Tell her what you said about Diarmuid!"

"I never said anything about him," he retorted.

"Miss, he said that he was glad Diarmuid wasn't here anymore because the girls finally paid attention to him! And then he said that Diarmuid was a stupid idiot."

"Go to the office, Arthur."

 _"I was suspended for the rest of the week due to 'misconduct'. The snobby little rich kid can do whatever he wants!"_

He sat at home, on his bed, while watching a television show. He was getting bored at home because there was nothing to do, and he was hoping not to get to class anytime soon. In fact, he was glad he did not have to go to school because everyone was getting in his nerves, and now he was free from the whispers.

Since he had nothing else to do, Arthur decided he would go shopping. His sister's birthday was coming up and he wanted to get her something before it was too late and he had no money left.

Finding something for his sister was actually very very hard. In fact, he kept asking the female store workers what they preferred. He probably had done three or four circles around the mall and he gave up when he saw a sweater that he thought his best friend would like.

 _"I bought you a batman sweater, where you at so I can give it to you?"_

He left the department store as he shoved his phone in his pocket and stopped by the customer service desk so that he would get his sister a gift card that she would actually use to her advantage.

It had been about the fourth day of his suspension and he noticed how truly empty the house felt when he was alone. He had never noticed it before, but the longer he sat alone, the more alone he would feel—the more the sorrow would snake back into his thoughts.

He pulled his phone close to himself and looked back at the last text his friend had sent... Could he send him another one?

 _"I don't like being home alone, want to come over and watch a movie?"_

Maybe the doorbell would ring, and when he opened the door; he would be there with a goofy smile on his face and a bag of chips in his hand. He wondered how long it would be until he finally saw Diarmuid.

 _"I started watching one of those Korean Dramas that my half-sister watches. She told me it was cool and since there was nothing else to do..."_

The following day, he sent another text.

 _"Omg, it's actually really good... Wasted 16 hours of my life watching it. The guys are like us, hahaha."_


	2. Part 2

**~Author's Note~**

 **This might actually be a 4 part story or maybe 5? But anyways I was actually going to update this story a different way but then I forgot and I was like w/e haha. It was supposed to be updated as if they were sending textx to one another, but that didn't work out because I forgot haha so this is just what I have.**

 **What do you guys think of Diarmuid not answering? Tell me your theories!**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Ms. AtomicBomb**

* * *

His iPod was connected to the speakers in his room. The beats of the song made the colourful water in the speakers rise and fall and Arthur laid still. His eyes on the ceiling. The lights were off and he was contemplating on everything that had happened to him.

Songs played and danced around the room and then their favourite band came on and he had to stop the melody. He had not heard them for three months now... He couldn't bring himself to hear them.

But as he looked at the song title pass over the screen on his phone, he forced himself to press play. As soon as the song played, he felt his heart sink in his chest and the odd sensation of it being heavy in his rib cage.

 _"I was able to listen to Mumford & Sons again... Ugh, when are you coming back?"_

He knew that the response was not going to come soon, so he threw the phone onto the seat next to the bed so that he would not be tempted to look upon it.

The sound of clattering plates had snapped him out of the trance and he sat up from the bed and walked to his door. He peaked out and waited to listen to the sounds that we're going to be made.

He heard a groan and he deemed it to be his father—must have tripped or something. As a loud yell resonated through the house, Arthur quickly shut his door and began to move his dresser in front of it. He knew what happened when his father was acting like such.

Arthur backed away from the dresser whilst he heard the creaking of the stairs as his father ascended them, "Arthur!" He never liked when his father screamed his name in the late night.

He moved his chair in front of the dresser and then crawled onto his bed. He thought that would be enough to stop his father from entering his room. Morgana had already told him that she would not be home for the night, so there was no need for him to leave his room.

His door rattled as his father tried to push it open with a slur of curse words. Arthur sat on his bed and watched the door with some freight. The noise that the rattling door made and his father's screams made him very uneasy and quite frightened—they reminded him of that time. The time when his entire world crumbled to pieces.

He held his pillow to his chest and took deep breaths. The doctor had told him that he only needed to take deep breaths, and the images would go away by themselves.

The ruckus was not making it easy for him to forget and instead it cause his heart to beat faster and his breathing to shorten. He slowly backed into the corner of his room and hugged the pillow much tighter as the memories began to flood back into his mind.

 _"Father came home drunk again, don't worry, I hid in my room like you told me to. Plus, Morgana was sleeping over at a friend's house."_

He laid on the bed with the phone in his hand, his door was still barricaded and he had heard that his father had probably fallen asleep a few hours ago. He could not fall asleep, especially after his anxiety attack.

He had never told Diarmuid about that problem, he thought he would make fun of him. But there were times that he wanted to tell his best friend. Ever since the summer, the attacks had started up again and that was around the same time that Diarmuid became distant.

He was glad he was suspended because he did not want to get up from bed that day. He simply stayed still and tried to fall asleep to make up for the lost hours—but he was not able to sleep.

 _"Morgie and I got into a fight today. She threw her math text book at me... Now I have a black eye. Haha try explaining that to someone else and they'll laugh at me."_

He held a bag of ice as he typed it out. His face was hurting and he never knew that Morgana could throw a book so hard. She had already apologized a million times for getting so mad at him, but she said that he needed to stop being on his phone all the time.

It was all his fault for he had called her a 'bitch' because she was telling him what to do. That was when she could not take it any longer and she threw the text book at him. She swore at him before realizing how badly she had hurt him, and then she raced over to help him once she saw the blood trickling from his brow and his fastened breathing.

 _"Finally back at school today... The weather is nice. I think you should come out."_

He sat on the school steps during lunch, tired and hopeful that he would see his friend jump over the gate and walk over to him with a triumphant smile on his lips. The leaves were starting to change colours and he wanted to see his friend before the warmth of summer stopped lingering around in early November. And as the days went by, and his friend did not turn up at school, he was starting to lose hope.

He entered the silent house and slowly walked up the stairs. He dragged his feet down the hall and hoped to get to his room before Morgana would call him to do something else. But as he passed by her door, he heard the strained sobs and silent cries of his sister through the door.

Arthur rested his hand on the door and took a deep breath, "Hey, Morgie, you alright?" he mumbled and then heard a small gasp from her part.

"Y-Yeah, I'm totally fine." It was rushed, and not very convincing.

"I'm coming in, alright?" He warned before entering the room and seeing her wavy dark brown hair in a big mess and her pastel green eyes red and puffy, glazed over with tears. He walked to her and sat next to her on the bed, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she shook her head, "I'm just being ridiculous."

There was definitely something wrong with her, she was wearing an oversized sweater that he knew did not belong to her and there was a picture next to her. He knew that sweater, he had a matching one that he bought to go along with Diarmuid's.

Arthur brought his sister into a tight hug and rubbed circles in her back, "He'll come back, and don't worry."

She let out a wail of pain and hugged her brother back, she could not say anything. She sobbed and sobbed, crying onto his shoulder.

 _"Morgie was crying today. She seems very upset. You should come over."_

He had calmed her down a little bit and told her he was going to make dinner and that she need not worry about anything else for the night. He would do the dishes and he would make sure his father was alright before he let him in.

He was making soup and had finished serving it. He called for his sister to come down and she slowly made her way to the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her eyes still glossy.

Arthur pulled the chair out for her and set the food in front of her as she sat down. He sat across from her and they said grace before eating.

Morgana mumbled something that he did not hear and he lifted his head from his food to see her, "Hmm?" he tilted his head.

"It's good," she pointed at the soup, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he smiled and looked over at his phone to check any incoming messages.

"You should stop going on that thing a lot…" He heard her whisper and she played around with the spoon.

His brows furrowed and he shook his head, "Nope, I gotta wait till Dia texts me back."

Morgana threw the spoon into her plate and caused a small clatter and some of the soup to spill out of the bowl. "Stop that." Her voice came as a pained hiss, "Stop texting him! He's not coming back, dammit! Stop it!" She screamed and got up from her chair.

"Morgana…"

She ran her hands through her hair out of exasperation and she grunted, "Arthur, please do not do this."

He rolled his eyes and stood from the seat as well, "Do what? Talk to my friend? I can't? I'm sorry he broke up with you, but this has nothing to do with it."

When she turned to him he could see she was about to cry, "We didn't break up; he left! He's gone and he's not coming back, Arthur! Don't you get it?"

"He'll come back!"

"Keep dreaming!" She screamed one more time and threw her blanket at him before running up the stairs.

 _"She wants me to stop texting you. That idiot."_

* * *

 ** _:~~~~~~~~:_**

* * *

 _"Got into a fight with the gang from the neighbouring school... My face hurts. I needed your back-up."_

Morgana was helping him with cleaning his bloody nose and cut lip. She was very disappointed with him because this was the second time that he was in a fight, but it was a good thing that he did not have his uniform on or else he would be suspended for a second time around.

She was telling him that he was being reckless and that it was stupid of him to even start a fight with people that did not even matter. She promised that the next time he got into a fight, she would take everything from him; his phone, his Wii and Xbox.

 _"I ate something so spicy that my stomach twisted and I had to run to the bathroom x.x hahaha"_

He did not know what else to write, so he vowed to send his friend a text of the most funniest or important thing of the day. And as the days went by, he would send a max of two texts.

 _"I'm so tired. Couldn't sleep last night."_

It was happening to him a lot, he was unable to sleep; or when he was asleep, he'd awaken in a rush from a nightmare and with heavy breathing.

 _"Hey, are you ever going to come back to school? Iris keeps saying that you won't. She also says I should cheer up and not keep texting you. But they're wrong. You're coming tomorrow, right?"_

He always had hope that his friend would come back to school, he always wanted to believe that he would. If he did not have that hope, then he too would have left along with him. But, he wouldn't—his friend would return. No matter what other people told him; he knew that Diarmuid would never leave him alone like that. He was coming back.

He was coming back, Arthur knew it.

He couldn't see properly, his eyes were much too puffed up, and everything was blurry with tears. He wanted to stop crying, but he felt the warm tears slide down his cheeks and he only felt helpless. There was nothing he could do, but he was still hopeful—he knew he would return.

He wouldn't be alone for that long.

 _"I cried in the shower for the first time since summer. Not that much though."_

He sighed after sending the message and he looked at the small picture on the fridge. A smiling blond boy had an arm wrapped around a taller black-haired male while the other was around a happy female. He remembered the day clearly. It was the day that Diarmuid had grown the balls to ask Morgana out and she had agreed—only to be followed by Arthur so that he knew if his friend was trying to pull anything stupid.

 _"Wow, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"_

He smiled nostalgically at the picture as he waited for a response, but a tear slid down his cheek again.

 _"I lied, I cried a lot. I cried for an hour, maybe more."_

He wiped his tears from his eyes and shook his head, he was scared—scared he would never get to see his friend smile again. He opened the fridge slowly and pulled out the juice container. He poured himself a glass of the orange juice and shoved the white carton back into the fridge. He sat in front of the television and drank his juice as he watched whatever movie was playing in their main channel.

It was Sherlock Holmes, or something, he was not exactly sure because he was not paying much attention. He heard the loud footsteps of his sister jumping down the stairs and heard as she opened the fridge and then she walked to where he was, jumping into the couch and joining him for the movie as she dug a big spoon into the ice cream jar.

Arthur glanced at her as she shoved a spoonful of cherry ice cream into her mouth and he frowned, "Aren't you going to give me some?"

"Hahah," she let out a chuckle, "You have to get your own spoon."

Arthur growled as he rolled his eyes and stood from the couch, "Okay, be mean like that."

"Where are you off to?" The brunette furrowed her brows and tilted her head as she took another spoonful of ice cream from the container.

"Going to get a spoon; I'm not letting you eat all the ice cream—I bought that." He made a funny face and she let out a laugh before nodding. He jogged to the kitchen and ran back before falling onto the couch and inching closer to his sister so that he could shove the spoon into the ice cream.

Morgana inched away and held the tub of the dessert far away from him, "You gotta earn this. Fight for it!"

"Morgieee," Arthur whined and tried to reach for it.

"Fight!"

Arthur huffed and placed the spoon on the table; two could play that game. He gave a smirk and immediately thought of something that would make her surrender the ice cream tub; tickling! He laughed for her and began to tickle her because after living with her for seventeen years he knew she was ticklish to the point that she would do anything for her opponent to stop.

The living room was filled with the screams and laughs of his sister as she tried her best to hold on to the container. She laughed louder as he tickled her and she tried kicking him off a few times. Arthur was laughing too, and Morgana wished there were more times like this. More times that her brother was smiling—that they were both smiling.

It was the loud noise that the door made as it was closed shut that interrupted her from laughing and her brother from tickling her. They looked up in unison and watched as their father stumbled into the room. They sat up straight and watched him in silence, his hair was a mess and the smell of liquor immediately filled the room, making Morgana clear her throat.

"Welcome home, father," Arthur stood to greet him, trying to stand between Morgana and him.

Uther clenched his jaw and tilted his head, "Have you made dinner?" he coughed lightly.

The younger male blinked, "We already ate, but what would you like for me to make you?"

His father glanced down and sighed, "Anything; as long as it's warm. I'll come down in half an hour." He grumbled as he turned down on his heel and ascended the stairs.

Morgana let out a loud breath and nodded, "Alright, soup should be good." She managed before she stood and made her way to the kitchen.

Arthur followed and took the pot from her hands, "I'll make it, don't worry. Just relax."

Just as his father had promised, half an hour later, he came back down into the kitchen and sat in front of the soup that his son had prepared. He took a sip of it and he did not say anything and thus Arthur had deemed it safe to start a conversation.

"How was work?" He mumbled lowly, trying not to offend his father if anything.

His father dropped the spoon and flickered his gaze towards the blond male, "Why do you need to know?" His voice was stern and obviously annoyed.

Morgana grit her teeth and crossed her arms, "Can we not ask you?"

Uther shot his head to her and blinked, "What?"

"Is it a sin to ask you questions?" she asked as she tilted her head.

" _Morgana_ ," Arthur warned between clenched teeth.

"No, Arthur," her pastel eyes glanced at him then settled back on their father, "why do we always have to be afraid to ask our father questions? He should be able to answer if he has the time to drink another shot."

"Morgana!" Arthur eyed her as if she had wanted a death wish.

"Young lady!" Uther slammed his hands on the table and made both teenager jump in surprise, "You cannot speak to me like that!"

"Just because Igraine died doesn't mean that—"The spoon had come flying to hit her in the face. She sat in shock and slowly brought a hand to her face.

Uther launched at her and Arthur was able to hold him back before he landed a slap on her cheek.

Morgana stood from the seat immediately and ran to the foyer. She heard her father growl and try to break through Arthur's grip to get to her.

"Morgie, go to Iri's!" Arthur called from the kitchen and she watched her father bolt towards her before shutting the door behind herself and running down the street.

Her heart was beating fast as she turned the corner and looked back before making it to the bus stop. She had left her phone on the table and it was a good thing that she had left her buss pass in her jacket earlier because it was the only thing that she was able to grab. She waited as her breath calmed and the bus did not take that much time in coming.

 _"I wasn't able to make it to my room today... Had to get Morgana out of the house first. She's fine."_

Arthur lay awake on his bed as he sighed loudly. His face was aching and so were his wrists; he never liked it when Morgana was sassy to their father because it always resulted in something similar to this. Morgana would always provoke him.

 _"I think I broke a rib when I got beaten up last time, my chest keeps hurting."_

He grumbled as he sent the text and continued his way to school, he did not like rainy days because he needed to wake up earlier and walk to school. He held the umbrella closer so that his shoulder would not become drenched and sighed. His breath formed a puff of white air and closed his eyes momentarily; the days were getting much colder.

 _"Morgie had an asthma attack today. I couldn't calm her down... It took a while."_

She had decided that it was a bright idea to race her friend across the school yard seven times and it wasn't until she was on the floor heaving that Arthur was informed and he had to run from the opposite side of school to get to her. She was really being reckless nowadays, and it wasn't making him feel any better.

The following day, Arthur stood in front of the school and watched as the birds flew by, ready to head south for the winter. The school was a scary place for him. It was frightening in his eyes.

 _"I don't want to go to school today. I'm scared you won't be there again and everyone will tell me to stop texting you."_

He looked down at his phone and ran a hand through his hair. He decided it was best to skip class and he began to walk past the big school.

 _"I punched Gil again. He didn't do anything wrong."_

 _"I don't know... I just wanted to."_

They had bumped into each other and Gil had rolled his eyes, ready to say something probably very stupid and egotistical. And before Gilgamesh could let a single word slip through his mouth, Arthur threw a punch and bolted away. It was the anger he was bottling up. The anger he had held for months now. The anger that his family was falling apart and his sister was hurting. The anger that he held because he was alone.

 _"I want to scream..."_

He was heaving as he wrote the text. He was far from the school, far from his home; far from his problems.

He calmed down and strolled through the city, looking up at the tall skyscrapers and glancing over the many shops that he passed by. He looked down at the time on his phone and sighed as he thought about what he was going to do for the entire day, and what he was going to say to the school tomorrow.

 _"Sushi? I have nothing else to do and we're both not at school…"_

* * *

 **This chapter was very emotional, as all you may now know. I just want to say that if you are going through the same situation as Morgana and Arthur in this story; you are not alone and it is always best to talk to someone. Never keep anything to yourself. Tell someone that you trust. I am also always here to listen to you as well. You are _never_ alone.  
**


	3. Part 3

Arthur looked over the short rail and watched the people go about their lives from across the street. School was dismissed a while ago and he had stayed behind because he was starting to feel desperate. He knew that if he went at the right time, he could be able to hide in the school's rooftop before it was closed for the rest of the day.

He clenched his teeth as the images rushed back and he was starting to feel afraid again. Afraid of everything that had happened to him in the summer. He bit his lower lip and took a pen out of his bag, he threw it over the railing and waited for a while, until he heard the sound it made from three floors below him.

He stood on the edge of the building and took deep breaths, he would be able to do it. He could jump. It was easy; close your eyes and just jump. Tears stained his cheeks and he let out a sob; it was not easy. Jumping was not easy.

He was shaking and he gulped as he looked down at the floor. It was so very far away…he did not know if it really was three floors, it looked like twenty. His hands were starting to hurt as the wintery cold air would bite as fall was starting to turn into winter.

He slowly and cautiously took his bag off and then he dropped it. It fell down quickly, but all the same it seemed agonisingly slow. He heard it crash against the floor and more tears slipped down his cheeks as he climbed over the small rail and back into safety. He slowly slid down and began to cry into his knees.

He was scared. So very scared.

 _"I went up to the school's roof today. Threw my bag over the rail... It was scary."_

He had managed to calm down and slowly knock on the door so that a janitor could open it for him. It took a while for it to be opened, but it was better because he was no longer crying and his puffy eyes had probably had time to settle.

Once the door was opened, he bolted down the stairs and scooped his bag from the school yard and ran towards the main gate. He wasted no time in jumping over the gate and bolting home, tears streaming down his cheeks again; he hated school.

Upon reaching his house and dragging his backpack up the stairs along with him, he stumbled into his bed and curled up under the warm covers, where he cried and tried falling asleep. The warmth felt safe, safer than any other place he knew about.

It was the ringing of the doorbell that made him roll off his bed and agonizingly stand from the floor. He was very groggy and he did not even want to leave his room; but the annoying doorbell was getting to him; driving him further from the safe warmth of his bed. He ran down the stairs with a yawn and swung the door open, a Batman blanket wrapped around his shoulders, "What do you want?" It took a while for his eyes to settle on a figure in front of him.

"Hello," a blond male smiled, "How are you?"

Arthur's eyes slowly grew and a smile replaced the previous frown on his lips, "Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? I thought you left forever, Jean."

"Can't I visit my friends?" Jean laughed and they hugged before Jean trickled in. Arthur excused himself in order to get ready and less than half an hour later, Arthur Pendragon came down the stairs once more and they both left the house.

"So, how's school?" Jean tried to balance on a beam in the park.

Arthur huffed as he shoved his hands in his pockets, "A pain in the ass," he grumbled, trying his best not to give his friend insight on what had occurred the previous evening.

"Of course…" Jean sighed, "Have you gone to visit Diarmuid?"

"Haha," Arthur sarcastically laughed, "I'm not allowed to, have you forgotten?"

"Right, well, I went. I don't like going to those places; they're cold, but I thought I would swing by to greet him. You know? It's been a long while."

"That's good. Did you see his mother?"

Jeanne shook his head as he jumped down from the beam, "No, no; good thing I didn't. If she saw me, hmpf, I don't even know." He shrugged.

"How was the visit then?"

"It was nice, as I would like to believe, there were many things that I told him about my new life…I was the only one talking, though. I can, however, say that we're caught up." Jean nodded as he spoke, he knew that it was a delicate subject for Arthur but it seemed like he was starting to cope rather well. And it wasn't like Diarmuid had been doing anything new.

 _"Jean came to visit. He said he met with you. Why can't you meet with me?"_

He sent the text before going back to join Jean in the conversation. They talked about universities and the future; about their careers and expectations. Arthur briefly touched upon his current mental state and then they left the park to eat something from the stores nearby.

 _"Jean told me that he got accepted into University."_

Arthur bit his lip as they both sat down at the booth where they usually sat in their favourite sushi place.

 _"I mean, I'm guessing he already told you. Haha"_

He immediately texted because now he was seeing that it was a stupid thing to say since Jean told him that he had talked to Diarmuid already.

Jean and Arthur continued to talk over the food and Arthur would glance at his phone every now and again.

"Who are you waiting on?" Jean finally decided to speak about the male's distraction. He had picked up on it back at the park but did not think to bring it up until now.

Arthur shrugged and picked up another California roll, "You might think I'm insane, it's Diarmuid."

"Diarmuid? You talk to him?" Jean tilted his head and swirled the green tea about the little cup.

The green-eyed male nodded, "Well, more or less; I send him texts and he never replies." He said as he sent another text to his friend.

 _"Yeah, he's going to join the army as well. Never knew he would :P"_

"Oh, that's nice; at least you try to keep in touch." Jean smiled and then extended his hand, "Can I read them?"

"Uh, yeah; one sec." Arthur nodded as he looked over the one way conversation again and then shot another text quickly.

 _"I mean, I never knew he would go through with it."_

"Here," Arthur passed his phone over and he watched as Jean held it in his hands and his smile faded as he continued reading.

"Well, you wrote quite a bit." The French boy bit his lower lip, "Hey! You even talked about me. Haha."

Arthur grinned and nodded, "Yeah because you suck."

"I think that it is really good for you to do this. These texts are a very good idea… Maybe I should try them."

"Many people want me to stop—including Morgana."

Jean laughed and gave a helpless shrug, "Those meanies…But I do think that it's good to keep in touch like that; it's almost like a really condensed diary or journal."

 _"I skipped school today because I had a horrible head ache."_

It was about a few days after Jean left that Arthur did not want to stand up from his bed because with every single movement; his head began to ache horribly. His eyes were hurting and just looking at his phone screen could make him want to puke everything he had ever eaten.

It wasn't until a few days later that he went back to school and waited around for his best friend again, but he still wasn't showing up.

 _"You shouldn't skip too much, you might get expelled."_

It was a valid point. Usually, when you missed more than two months of school, you would be kicked out of school because you were not attending anymore. It was a waste for the school when they could allow another student to study.

Arthur was paying more attention to his phone than to the teacher speaking. The previous night, he was unable to sleep so much and he was very tired.

Since his phone was not ringing or vibrating, Arthur looked at the teacher and watched as she wrote equations down on the board while everyone else copied them down. His eye lids felt heavy and they closed on their own as he tried his best to keep them open. His eyes would fall from focus and his head would bob. It was as if he could not control himself as he fell asleep.

The smacking of a ruler against his desk was what made him jump in fear. "What?" He nearly screamed as he followed the hand holding the ruler up the arm and to his teacher's face. He heard giggles fill the room and his heart began to slow its pace.

"Mind explaining yourself?" The teacher tilted her head, disappointment in her eyes.

Arthur rand a hand through his hair after rubbing his face and shaking his head, "There's no valid reason."

 _"I slept in class and the teacher gave me detention. I hate the classroom. It's empty without you."_

 _"Morgie says I need to talk to people and stop texting you. How could she just ask that? You're my best friend."_

Arthur had just finished arguing with Morgana and he was tired of the cold attitude that his sister had given him. He was trying not to get completely upset with her to the point he would not talk to her for days; it had happened only once before and that was a very long time ago when she had done something that had truly ticked him off.

 _"Till death do us apart."_

"Crap." Arthur hissed between his teeth and covered his mouth after sending the text. "Shit."

 _"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I really shouldn't have said that. Man, I'm sorry."_

After that, he didn't send his friend a text for days afterwards, weeks even. He had not even known how to start up a conversation after what he had said and he was scared that Diarmuid would not talk to him again.

There was not much that went on at home or at school that made him have inspiration to text his best friend. He was thinking that maybe the one way conversation was hurting him more than helping him.

 _"How's your father? Are you having fun?"_

After three weeks of not texting Diarmuid, he was finally able to come up with something that did not touch upon his school life or mental state. He thought about the happy and kind father that Diarmuid had and how much he missed going over when his father came home drunk.

 _"When are you coming back?"_

He had already asked this question before, but he truly wanted to know because nowadays with all that was happening to him, he was starting to fear not seeing his best friend ever again.

 _"How about tomorrow? Come tomorrow."_

His green eyes were trained on the phone as he lay belly down on the bed, covered by that batman blanket. He was crossing his fingers in hope that his friend would respond and soon text him back, telling him that he would attend.

Nowadays, he felt himself becoming hopeless and impatient. He did not know what to do… He was starting to forget his friend's habits and voice. The smile he usually wore and how he would complain about the beauty mark under his right eye constantly; it was all starting to fade away and Arthur didn't want it gone. He wanted to remember his friend, he wanted to hope his friend would return.

 _"Did you see the sunset? It was gorgeous."_

He was silently seated by his bedroom window, watching as the day slowly got older and the sun retired for the day. The colours of the sky brought a little peace to his mind, easing him from the pain that he was holding deep in his heart. He dropped his head and buried it in his knees as he heard the silence of the house. He was still scared, the sunset could not possibly take that feeling away.

A few days passed and Morgana was trying her best to reanimate her brother, she was having trouble taking him out of his room to see the outside world, and since he had been deemed sick, the school exempted his long absence. All Arthur would do was sit in his room in the silence, a blanket tightly wrapped around him.

 _"I ate an entire bag of chips in less than five minutes, Morgana bet ten dollars that I couldn't. Guess who's ten dollars richer?!"_

It was to Morgana's success that she had pulled him out of his room and dragged him down the stair to watch a movie. The movie was unimportant when she had bet a bunch of things so that he would not return to being cooped up in his room, but she knew he could do every one. Thus, she went to the kitchen and grabbed a back of chips. She stared her brother down and then bet him that he was not able to completely eat all the chips in the bag in less than five minutes.

"If that's what it takes to get you off my case, fine." Arthur grumbled and opened the bag of chips.

Morgana smirked, "I promise I'll give you ten dollars."

Arthur's green eyes drifted back to his sister and he blinked, "Sure."

 _"Come on, I'll treat you to that strawberry smoothie you like."_

He and his sister had talked for a while after he had finished the chips and she had told him that she found a new boyfriend. This upset Arthur, but he forced a smile and nodded—she needed to move on and this was the best way.

The next day, Arthur decided it best to attend school, so he quickly changed into his uniform and hurried to his homeroom class he thought about things he could do with his friend for ten dollars other than giving him food.

 _"Hey! Let's go swimming!"_

He recalled that the swimming fare was about three dollars each, and they both loved going swimming, thus his friend would hopefully agree.

 _"What about skiing?"_

That was a bit more expensive, but he would be willing to pay for his friend.

 _"Okay, clubbing then!"_

He wasn't responding so now Arthur was just throwing stupid ideas around, hoping one of them could persuade his friend. Although, when no answer came, he gave up and sent another text with an evident frown on his lips.

 _"Yeah, sorry, I know you're busy."_

School was uneventful, as always, and he bid Irisveil a farewell. There was a soft smile on his lips as he tried to convince her that he was alright. Now that it was late fall and winter was beginning to bite his skin, he glanced up at the colours of the leaves. Fall was always his favourite season but now he was starting to think that spring would do him better. Fall was always known to be a sad season.

 _"I'm walking home today... The leaves look beautiful. Trees are going to sleep soon. Wish I were one."_

 _"Remember that house by Churchill that was being built for like three years? Haha yeah, they finished it. I'll send you a pic later."_

His stomach growled and he looked over at one of the fast food places that he walked past, and they were seeming to be very tempting now. He fished whatever money he had in his pocket and looked down at the purple bill that his sister had given him. He looked up at the fast food place and frowned. Food or his friend… His stomach growled again but he shook his head, he wasn't going to. No.

 _"Started reading the little prince... In French. French class sucks."_

Arthur put his phone down and looked over the book. He began to read it, struggling with some French words here and there, but it was a nice book and he really liked it. Every time the prince went to a different planet, there was a lesson to learn and it let Arthur escape from his reality and travel the stars with the little prince.

 _"The prince is just like you. You little naïve idiot."_

He read about the prince's rose and it made him smile, yeah, he could see his sister in that rose. But his heart felt heavy when the fox came in. Taming? Tears weld in his green eyes and he shook his head. Friends would always be connected to one another, no matter what.

 _"Hahah, this book is too cute. But I still hate french."_

Arthur played about with his phone after sending the text and checked a couple of times just to make sure that his friend had not yet texted him and he had missed it. He still had not finished the book, but he didn't want to because he thought that it would mean he wouldn't have an escape for a while.

He walked with Iri by his side as they left the class before the teacher could stop him and call him out so that he could hand in his assignment.

 _"I forgot to hand in my assignment, got a zero. It was fate :/"_


	4. Part 4

_"Sorry for the late text; Iris took my phone from me for the day."_

Irisviel had taken his phone on the condition that he would not text Diarmuid, but that wasn't really going to work, and she had noticed when all Arthur did was lay his head down on the desk and agonizingly wait until the class was over. After seeing that the boy was nearly hopeless, she returned the phone and then proceeded by scolding him on his anti-social behaviour. She kept urging him to make friends and continue being his previously fun self.

 _"Says I should make more friends to get mind off of everything."_

 _"I couldn't play football today... I'm horrible."_

He watched the black and white ball be kicked around as he sat on the bleachers, texting his friend and then leaning back on the seats. The image of Diarmuid trying to beat him at keep-ups was haunting him all throughout the day after that and he was having trouble keeping it all in.

Upon reaching his homeroom after P.E. in order for dismissal, the teacher greeted everyone with donuts because she had said it was her birthday and it was a time to celebrate. After taking three donuts, he had even put aside Diarmuid's favourite one, hoping that he could visit his friend later that day. Maybe.

 _"Hey! The teacher bought donuts for the entire class; you missed out on the strawberry one."_

Fall was starting to creep around the city, making the evening cold and dark, but it seemed that ladybugs were still flying around, which was rather odd for the season. Landing on his jacket, the ladybug crawled about, hiding in the folds to be shielded from the strong wind gusts. It wasn't long before he got home, walking in with the critter on his shoulder.

 _"This lady bug walked me. I guess it wanted to escort me home, hahaha"_

He opened his window after texting and collected the red bug from his jacket before letting it fly back into the cold night; a broken home was no place for a cute little insect. Sinking back on his bed, he wrapped a blanket around himself and tried to get as warm as he possibly could. The growl in his stomach had reminded him that it was time to eat dinner, but he had no motivation to actually cook something.

 _"I'm too lazy to make food so I'm going to make some instant noodles."_

 _"I've only been eating instant noodles for 1 week now."_

He was starting to regret that decision more than most things; he was feeling weaker, sadder, and unmotivated and the cold weather wasn't helping him at all. He had distanced himself from all his friends, so now he was truly starting to feel how lonely life could get.

 _"You coming back soon? I want to see you; can I go over today?"_

With slight motivation, he stood from his bed and slipped into a jacket, preparing himself for the cold autumn evening. He would go over and check if Diarmuid was around, or even his father… he just hoped the Dia's mother would not appear at all.

The house seemed empty, the sales sign already up on the property… Arthur stepped up and rang the doorbell but the echo filled the house like a flood that he could even hear it from outside, "Maybe I should wait…" He mumbled, sitting down on the porch until his alarm went off. It was already quite late in the night and so Arthur stood, walking back home after sending a text.

 _"You weren't home... When can I go? How about a sleepover?"_

When he got home, he was welcomed with the sound of crashing plates. A shiver ran down his spine and dread filled him—he should have just stayed sleeping in a park. Home was the biggest problem in Arthur's life, it was causing him anxiety and irritation.

The booming voice of Uther had the boy angry and beyond stable. There wasn't one day that the middle aged man would not pick a fight with Arthur and it was coming to a point where the blond just wanted to up and leave to as far away as his feet could take him. He wanted out. Out of home, school, _life_. He wanted it all gone.

 _"I want to be away from my father."_

His anxiety came in the form of anger this time, irritation, irrationality. He just need to see one grey bubble among green and blue—just one.

 _"Please, respond."_

With every passing minute he felt his heart swell and sink, the one sided conversation getting to him.

 _"You should at least respond to your best friend"_

 _"Can you say something?"_

 _"JUST SAY ANYTHING!"_

He started to loose control, anger channelling through him along with the despair he had been holding in.

 _"ANYTHING! SPEAK! I'M TIRED OF SEEING NO RESPONSE JUST SAY SOMETHING!"_

 _"YOU SAID YOU'D BE THERE FOR ME SO WHERE ARE YOU?"_

Friends were supposed to support you, to help you when you were in trouble, "You promised me! We were best friends! What happened?" Arthur was screaming at his phone, throwing object around his room, destroying posters and undoing his bed.

 _"I AM TIRED OF THIS, DIARMUID. FUCKING RESPOND!"_

"Say something for God's sake, jerk!" After his entire room was a mess he broke along with the many trophies he had thrown, "You promised me, Dia. How could you break our promise…? How could you ruin our friendship? Dia please, respond… I need to know we're still friends… please." Falling to the floor the boy began to weep, his voice cracking and the tears streaming down his face, "I'm hurting… I'm still hurting and you aren't coming back, are you? You aren't going to come back to me, are you? Dia, please… just please come back…"

 _"I'm so sorry, forgive me. Ugh... I'm so sorry."_

He had trouble seeing the keyboard with his blurry site.

 _"I did not mean to explode. I'm sorry."_

 _"I'm so sorry."_

 _"Forgive me."_

He stopped writing texts for n entire month. The festive season had hit the population like a wave and to people it seemed that Arthur was starting to cheer up. But he would lie restless for nights on end thinking of when he could see his best friend again.

 _"Snow fell today. Merry Christmas. Really wish you were able to come visit."_

Festive days also brought melancholy when you lost someone you would usually spend years with.

 _"I'm sorry. Are you still mad at me?"_

Looking over the texts he had written a month prior, he thought about what he had done. Shaking his head, he looked away and landed his eyes on his Wii before remembering his favourite game.

 _"What are you up to? Are you done Twilight Princess?"_

 _"Have you eaten dinner yet? If not, go eat something."_

 _"Sweet dreams."_

Although he couldn't sleep, he sure hoped that his best friend could. At least Diarmuid didn't remember everything that happened and he didn't have to deal with people acting like he needed medical attention or something.


End file.
